Best of the Packers: Top 10 running backs since 1960
By Phil Watson
2. Ahman Green (2000-06, 2009)
The Green Bay Packers turned to an old friend—former coach Mike Holmgren—when shopping for a running back in April 2000, sending cornerback Fred Vinson and a sixth-round pick in 2000 to the Seattle Seahawks—where Holmgren was coach and general manager—for seldom-used running back Ahman Green and a 2000 fifth-rounder.
Green assumed the starter’s job at running back early in the 2000 season while rushing for 1,175 yards and 10 touchdowns and catching a career-high 73 passes.
That was the first of five straight 1,000-yard campaigns for Green, who was a four-time Pro Bowler and set a single-season franchise record in 2003 when he rushed for 1,883 yards.
A highlight that season was a 98-yard touchdown run against the Denver Broncos—the second-longest TD run in NFL history and the longest ever by a Packer.
Green rushed for 1,000 yards a sixth time in 2006, after missing 11 games with an injury in 2005, but left to sign with the Houston Texans as a free agent in April 2007.
After two years in Houston, Green game back to the Packers in October 2009 and spent the rest of the season as a backup.
Unsigned as a free agent in 2010, Green retired in August 2011.
In eight seasons in Green Bay, Green had 1,851 carries for 8,322 yards and 54 touchdowns, while also catching 350 passes for 2,726 yards and 14 scores.
His 8,322 rushing yards are the most in Packers history and his 54 rushing touchdowns rank second. He is third in franchise history with 68 total touchdowns.
Green was a third-round pick by the Seahawks out of Nebraska in the 1998 NFL Draft, but had just 61 carries over his first two seasons.
Green was inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame in 2014.
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